The Raiders are a step closer to moving to Las Vegas

On Monday Morning Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a bill into law that approves the financing of a football stadium in Las Vegas. This bill will put the state of Nevada on the hook for $750 million of the $1.9 billion dollar stadium that is being built in Las Vegas for the Oakland Raiders.

The Nevada State Senate approved the stadium bill on Friday, October 24th with a 28-12 vote. The bill will increase Hotel Tax on the Las Vegas strip by 1.4 percent, which will equate to a $1.50 increase in hotel rates per night. This will put more on the tourists of Las Vegas than the local residents. Which is usually not the case when stadiums get built, but nothing about this project is regular.

This is a very encouraging start for the Raiders. However, the relocation process is a three step process. The three steps are financing, the business plan, and the 24 NFL owner votes. This stadium bill takes care of about 40 percent of the financing; the rest will come from the Raiders and private financiers.

The next step will be the business deal. The “business deal” will include details such as how the public is going to recoup their money, how the revenue will be divided up, and who receives the PSL money. This will have to be completed before Raiders owner Mark Davis can go to the other NFL owners for their relocation approval.

The final step is the owner’s votes; it is required to have at least 3/4th of the NFL owner’s votes to approve of the relocation. With 32 NFL owners, this means Davis and the Raiders will need 24 of the 32 owners to vote with him. Last off-season the Rams moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles after 30 of the 32 NFL owners voted in approval of the move.

As stated previously this vote will only occur after the financing and the business plan are finalized. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said that the vote will likely take place in the next 6-9 months (Mid-2017). The owners will meet in Houston this Tuesday and Wednesday for their annual fall meetings. However, I would not expect any answers coming out from the meetings about the Raiders relocation.

Over the weekend, Mark Davis ensured the fact that the Raiders will remain in Oakland through the end of their lease with the Coliseum of Oakland, which ends in 2018. However, if approved the stadium in Las Vegas plans to open up for the 2020 season. This would give the Raiders one year in between in which they would have to find a temporary venue to play their home games.

Either way, there is a lot of work left to do if Mark Davis wants to move the Raiders to Las Vegas. Nonetheless, the signing of the stadium bill by the Brian Sandoval is a step in the right direction.